"It is perfectly valid as a food source," says Regina Hines, a fiber artist in Ball Ground, Ga. "In the springtime, I like to gather the little shoots, and I will saute them with onions and mushrooms. They taste almost like snow peas."Related to peas, the climbing perennial was introduced to the South during the 1930s, when the government hired workers to plant it for erosion control. The government paid farmers as much as $8 an acre to plant fields of the vine.

But when the vine began to smother their crops, farmers balked. Soon, the vines were choking 100-foot-tall trees, pulling down telephone poles, clogging train tracks and covering parked cars.

Since 1953, when the government removed kudzu from its list of recommended cover crops, landowners and scientists have struggled to control it. But kudzu can take years to successfully treat with herbicide. Its roots can run 10 feet deep......................................................................

Now that is an idea!!Of course you might need a machete to get into the darned place. Gee it would cover up everything. Couldn't be seen from the road from the air nothing! If you had a partially buried dome you could plant the kudzu all around and on top as long as it didn't cover the ventilation shafts, eh?

I think I already posted this but oh well!

IMAGE: Good for Something?Discovery Newshttp://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/06/16/kudzu-biofuel-ethanol.html June 16, 2008 -- As concerns rise over corn ethanol creating competition between food and fuels, ethanol made from one of the country's most invasive plants -- kudzu -- could be part of the solution, according to Rowan Sage of the University of Toronto and colleagues at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The kudzu vine, also known as "the plant that ate the South," was brought from eastern Asia in 1876 and can grow more than 6.5 feet a week. Its starchy roots plunge deep into the soil, and just a fragment of the plant remaining in the ground is enough to allow it to come back next season. "Kudzu is just a large amount of carbohydrate sitting below ground waiting for anyone to come along and dig it up," Sage said. "The question is, is it worthwhile to dig it up?"His team gathered samples of kudzu from different locations in the south at different times of year and measured the amount of carbohydrate -- which can be converted into ethanol by yeast -- present in leaves, vines and roots. The roots were by far the largest source of carbohydrate in the plant: up to 68 percent carbohydrate by dry weight, compared to a few percent in leaves and vines. The researchers estimate that kudzu could produce 2.2 to 5.3 tons of carbohydrate per acre in much of the South, or about 270 gallons per acre of ethanol, which is comparable to the yield for corn of 210 to 320 gallons per acre. They recently published their findings in Biomass and Bioenergy.Crucial to making the plan work would be figuring out whether kudzu could be economically harvested, especially the roots, which can be thick and grow more than six feet deep. To balance this expense, Sage said, the plant requires zero planting, fertilizer or irrigation costs.Even if equipment could harvest the roots, a large fraction of kudzu vines blanket steep hillsides and would be difficult to access. The team estimated that about one-third of kudzu plants would be harvestable. If so, they calculate that kudzu could offer about 8 percent of the 2006 U.S. bioethanol supply. Next »21"It's not going to solve anybody's energy crisis, but it would be a useful supplement," Sage said. "You could use it to get rid of the kudzu," he said, "or, alternatively, you could let it regenerate naturally, and just walk away and then come back and do it again in a few years." "There is a conundrum there," said Irwin Forseth of the University of Maryland in College Park. "Unless you're going to let it come back and devote some land to cultivating it, it wouldn't form a stable source. You wouldn't want to put in a stable infrastructure and work out how to extract it from roots to have it go away after three years." However, if existing corn ethanol manufacturing plants could be used to process kudzu, too, then the approach might be feasible, Forseth said. Bob Tanner of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., proposed using kudzu for energy in the energy crisis of the 1970s, but he now suggests that the starch, which is used as a gelling product in food in Japan, carries a higher value as a food product. He advocates using the starch for food and converting the cellulose -- the woody, fibrous carbohydrate that gives structure to the stems and leaves -- into ethanol once processes under development are commercially available. The fibers also make fine textiles, Tanner said. "My suggestion is, be creative. Don't cuss at it. Use it creatively."

"I have used the powdered Kuzu (that is how it is spelled in macrobiotic cooking) for thickening, and it is a very good thickener. The 100 grams is confusing to me, since I would use only a couple of tablespoons to thicken a sauce.

It was reputed to be of value in macrobiotics for purposes of binding with heavy metals in the body, whereupon they were then excreted naturally. I make NO claims as to the truth of this, it is simply what was claimed for the product in a macrobiotics class I attended years ago." (Evelyn)

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Title: Re: Kudzu
Post by: Linda on May 04, 2011, 08:05:17 PM

Kudzu may be a good camouflage plant to create cover at your shelter. Not too sure how long it takes to grow, but seems like it's a pretty fast grower.

Hi all,I don't know if you are aware,but Kudzu is used to treat alcohol addiction.It has recently been discovered.( just a bit of information i thought you should know)Kind regards .....Ivan.

I did post a reference on that... I should post it in one of the herbal topics, not sure if I did.In the aftertimes it could be a Godsend to all the addicted people who cannot get their booze or drugs...

Discuss Did you know Kudzu is safe for horses? at the Horse Health forum - Horse Forums. According to the North Carolina State University Equine Vetrinary College, kudzu is a safe forage/roughage ...

Limited availability of traditional horse hays may necessitate feeding non-traditional forage sources. Horses can effectively graze kudzu, which is similar in protein and energy to immature graze hay. Overgrazing and destruction of the kudzu is encouraged. Other alternative forage sources that can be fed if properly harvested at an immature stage are:

...I don't know about everyone else but kudzu completely overruns parts of the South. I am seriously considering bringing some home and exposing my horses to it. IT grows faster than grass, is more nutritous than most of the grass types in my pasture, and could save me thousands in hay bills.

Kudzu is a very invasive and dangerous plant, because it can't be controlled. In many parts of the country it is illegal to introduce these plants/seeds, because of that. Yes, goats love it, pigs, too, other livestock will eat it. but what happens when they don't for some reason, it's very drought tolerant, but when it isn't the 'stuf' will overrun everything in a very short time, then what...??? Yes, humans can eat it, too, but do you just want to eat Kudzu, because you'd have to. It would quickly cover and suffocate anything else. Kudzu was imported and we don't have any natural predators to manage it, as good as some features are, it's very bad in others. Best not to tempt and tip the balance. The Aftertimes will bring enough trouble in trying to grow good crops and things, as it is...

Kudzu is a very invasive and dangerous plant, because it can't be controlled. In many parts of the country it is illegal to introduce these plants/seeds, because of that. Yes, goats love it, pigs, too, other livestock will eat it. but what happens when they don't for some reason, it's very drought tolerant, but when it isn't the 'stuf' will overrun everything in a very short time, then what...??? Yes, humans can eat it, too, but do you just want to eat Kudzu, because you'd have to. It would quickly cover and suffocate anything else. Kudzu was imported and we don't have any natural predators to manage it, as good as some features are, it's very bad in others. Best not to tempt and tip the balance. The Aftertimes will bring enough trouble in trying to grow good crops and things, as it is...

Survival101 (I posted to you also in the horses Topic.) At this point, no I am not advocating people plant it.The point of me starting this topic is, to provide some info on where kudzu came from why it is invasive etc. Not only that, how to make use of part of it, if it is on your land.

There are already lots of blogs on how to kill it and so on.

My point is, if it is on your land, make use of it. It is already understood everyone has the option to kill it off their land. It is already understood it is invasive and why.

I suppose if I had a large plot of land in the southeast: • I would use non - poison methods to beat back the kudzu on property line.• Then I would have some wild goats in the areas I didn't go to much. • They would continuously feed on the kudzu. • The vines closest to my home I would harvest and use. • Human food and feed it to my animals.• I’m thinking a lot of it could be shredded in a wood chopper and ploughed under to nourish the soil – • in that case you wouldn't be dumping poison on those portions gathered up for that reason. • Could someone make an organic compost/fertilizer out of it?• In that case the person could hire a few people to gather it up for processing.

I prefer to focus on kudzu as a resource, particularly since people could still face more catastrophes and famine in the coming few years.

Think about it - an edible plant that is virtually unkillable. Well that could come in handy in the aftermath of fire, flood and who knows what.

Yes, Kudzu could be a resource to use in certain ways and for specific uses, if it is already present. However, the concept seems to migrate and not stay with just the intended purpose and then it's out of control. We can eat it, animals can eat it, neither can eat it continuously, tho'. Mono-diets are not good for any creature and the way it grows, you'd pretty much have to be. Goats are 'browsers' they are mainly looking for brush. You can process it into useful products, if you have the means. For whatever purpose intended for, if it is ever not utilitized, 'it' keeps growing and it grows at an alarming rate.

Many people with good intentions have tried to work with Kudzu, thinking that 'they' had the way, that 'they' could handle it and found out, otherwise to their determent. Others have built companies, thinking 'they' had the answer to the Kudzu problem by leasing out goats, etc. to eat the Kudzu, they don't stay in operation very long for whatever reasons.

Shredding Kudzu and ploughing it under, makes a lot of new, little plants. Composting could be an answer, but it would definitely have to be and stay HOT enough, long enough to kill it. I don't know of anyone that, once they have experienced Kudzu, wanting Kudzu. In spite, of it's attractive benefits short-term, in the long run it's not worth it and has a high potential/risk for one, of even more.

Yes, it can be used, Kudzu is certainly the Siren's Song. But, eventually, it will win out and use and control you and everything around it.

Title: Re: Kudzu
Post by: Yowbarb on February 19, 2013, 09:31:22 AM

Excerpts from this site,Yowbarb.........................................................................................

http://www.maxshores.com/kudzu/

The Amazing Story of KudzuLove It, Or Hate It... It Grows On You!

In Georgia, the legend saysThat you must close your windowsAt night to keep it out of the house.The glass is tinged with green, even so...

From the poem, "Kudzu," by James Dickey

..........Uses for Kudzu:It's here. It's free... Why not?

Basket makers have found that the rubber-like vines are excellent for decorative and functional creations. Ruth Duncan of Greenville, Alabama makes over 200 kudzu baskets each year and says she doesn't mind that people call her the "Queen of Kudzu."

Regina Hines of Ball Ground, Georgia, has developed unique basket styles which incorporate curled kudzu vines. She weaves with other vines as well, but says that kudzu is the most versatile.

Nancy Basket of Walhalla, South Carolina, makes paper from kudzu which she uses in colorful collages. Her designs vary from geometric shapes to images of rural life and Native American themes.

Diane Hoots of Dahlonega, Georgia has developed a company to market her kudzu products which include kudzu blossom jelly and syrup, kudzu baskets, and books. Her book, Kudzu: The Vine to Love or Hate, co-written with Juanita Baldwin, is an in-depth study of the South's love/hate relationship with the vine. The book includes recipes and basket making instructions.

Henry and Edith Edwards of Rutherfordton, North Carolina have found many uses for kudzu over the past 30 years. Henry produces over 1,000 bales of kudzu hay each year on his Kudzu Cow Farm. The hay is high in nutritive value, but many people have found kudzu difficult to cut and bale. Henry says the secret is to "cut it low and bale it high."

Edith Edwards makes deep-fried kudzu leaves, kudzu quiche, and many other kudzu dishes. She found recipes in The Book of Kudzu: A Culinary and Healing Guide by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi, and thought this was a good use for a plentiful resource. She has demonstrated kudzu cooking for clubs, schools, and visitors to the Knoxville World's Fair.

........- Yowbarb

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Title: Re: Kudzu
Post by: Yowbarb on November 10, 2013, 11:05:13 AM

http://www.kudzubug.org/index.html

Title: Re: Kudzu
Post by: Yowbarb on October 28, 2016, 11:47:27 PM

My newer Topic: Topic: Kudzu: You can eat "the plant that ate the south."

Yowbarb Note: This is a pretty standard medical site. Will be posting more from alternative sources....http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/news/20120517/chinese-herb-kudzu-may-help-drinkers-cut-down